Skopje Magical College: Christmas Eve among Spellsingers
The bonfires were lit on the high places all over Magical Europe: each one could be seen by those gathered at the previous Fire Loft, and by those gathered at the next. The Antrim coast Fire Loft could be seen by witches and wizards in the Hebrides; the Jersey fire could be seen across the Channel in France. The dances and feasting were held around each loft, or inside nearby in case of inclement weather. Honey mead and hot whiskey and hot cider were passed around by families and friends in their warmest dress robes; circle dances were breaking out everywhere, indoors and out; and Divination masters and mistresses were taking queries for readings on the upcoming New Year.

Midwinter at Skopje Magical College in northern Macedonia found Madame Jovana Sandansky at the center of a cyclone of activity around her own Fire Loft. New arrivals and owls telling of new arrivals were everywhere; the flesh of boar, pheasant and turkey was roasting on indoor fires; baked and fresh fruits were being passed around; and house elves were bringing in one course of the feast long before previous ones had been polished off. It was sheer madness, but happy madness all the same. Floating candles mingled with rotating Japanese lanterns over the heads of the celebrants. Circle dances for children and adults galloped around and atop tables. Lovers were taking and renewing Winter Vows and year-and-a-day betrothals in the feasting hall, meditation rooms and the corridors outside the ritual room. In and out went the people watching the outdoor Fire Loft, sometimes requesting more wood and tinder fuel, sometimes marshalling children indoors and out to observe their bonfire's progress and look out over the lake to the nearest Fire Loft to this one. The energy was unbelievable, and would only grow more impassioned as night fell.

Just before the call came for dinner, Jovana allowed herself to be drawn into a songspell dance in honour of the season. The fortyish spellsinger was pulled into the circle by her friends Lule and Ailu Gierran; drums and bouzoukis began playing, and the lead singer began verses of a Macedonian song in honour of Ama Marija (the Virgin Mary), the great mystic and visionary of ancient Israel:

The young girl danced, and the green touched her;The vision of angels overtook her sight.No cave nor dream she needed to see clearly,Ama, Amonah, Marija, Doimater.

Marija, only just come of age,She, the avatar of her nomad people,She who achieved mystical union with the Creator,Ama, Amonah, Marija, Doimater.

Star of the Sea they call her,As they called Aphrodite before her,Queen of Heaven, as Asherah, as Inanna,Ama, Amonah, Marija, Doimater.

The vision was a fright and confusing;But the angels conveyed blessing and love,And her ecstasy brought healing to the people.Ama, Amonah, Marija, Doimater.

Today Marija dances among the poor:The frightened ones of Iraq, of Palestine,The Afghans under heavy siege,The poor of America's Gulf and cities.

Tonight her child is born againIn the slums of London and Hong Kong,In the refugee camps throughout the world:Ama, Amonah, Marija, Doimater.

Maidens of the poor, dance with Marija;Follow her lead into powerful visions.You are chosen thus, not the gold-ridden mighty.Ama, Amonah, Marija, Doimater.

A toast rose up among the feastgoers, that all would go well when Jovana Sandansky of Skopje left for America; and that feasting would yet come to those who had no food, and that the innocent dead of the wars and storms would find their blood settled and their souls at last in peace.

Much Merriment of the Season to All...from the witches and wizards of Skopje Magical College, Sapmi Witchcraft and Wizarding Academy, Ilmatar Magical Academy, and the Karelia Songspell Collective!!

Now the outdoor Fire Loft was ready, it was announced. People began hurrying out the door of the College's feasting hall to watch it, and watch for the sight of the neighboring one across the lake, though a bit of a fog was beginning to hide that one. Jovana, Lule and a mob of others stormed outside in the frosty air and found that the bonfire was, indeed, as high and mighty as they had ever seen it, with the braver children tossing extra kindling into the conflagration at every opportunity. The fire roared into the air, and sent out sparks that reflected off the frosty ground before hitting its surface and winking out.

"Dance the clouds away!" someone yelled, and the call was taken up by a score of other revelers. One line of dancers after another formed, and began the labyrinthine moves, similar to a Swedish longdans, around the Fire Loft; and before long, the lines began joining and moving in unison. Stomping, skipping, and yelling to build their energy, the lines of dancers formed semicircles around the fire that grew wider the further they danced away from the Fire Loft. As the lines curved around to dance in opposing directions, a certain degree of centrifugal force threatened to knock some people over as they curved around.

Jovana easily danced herself into a trance; and in her mind's eye, she began floating skyward over the heads of her friends, relations, colleagues and fellow spellsingers. And she could see numerous other women flying up in spirit after her.

Lule grabbed Jovana's hand as they flew; they saw the women behind them taking hands and magically binding their hands together the higher they went. Much of the northern terrain of Macedonia was below them and easily discernable, clouds notwithstanding; and now, from off in the distance, other lines of women with hands joined were coming through space to join them. Witches from Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Finland--there was Marja Karppinen, with nearly half of the Karelia Songspell Collective's female members! Jovana looked to the east, and Russian witches were coming and joining up at her other hand; here were women from Siberia, Alaska, throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, the West Indies. On and on they came: from the west, women of Ireland, Britain, France (including young Gabrielle Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy), Senegal, Mali, Rwanda. From the south and east again, witches forced into hiding from places like Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Syria, Central Asia. Spiralling lines formed, almost as they had around Skopje's Fire Loft--first mazing separately, then gradually joining into one labyrinth. Only now, the women were circling the First Mother, the planet Earth Herself, in shamanic reality, their bodies left many miles below.

They began speaking, singing, spelling, praying, their voices coming from their hearts rather than their mouths. Nymphadora Tonks wheeled her contingent east to join Marja's as the spirit chanting began. Let our world be reborn in the blessing of the First Mother...it is time that cats took over the world...let grandmothers' councils have the final word in all political decisions...

So many were hurting down below in this world, so many more even than this time last year. Iraq, in particular, could not get relief, after the wars of the 1980's and early 90's, twelve years of sanctions that starved half a million of their youngest children, an entire nation blamed for the evils of its leader; and now the invasion, war and occupation by the world's latest Rogue Superpower (as the Catholics' previous spiritual leader rightly termed it). The very soil of Iraq, land of Innana and Dumuzi and Ninhursag the Mountain Mother, was contaminated by depleted uranium and other toxins that were killing and deforming children in their mothers' wombs right and left. And how many more were suffering unnecessarily, especially at the hands of others who worshipped only power and wealth? The prayers of the witches grew more serious and universal now.

Food and shelter, clothing and sustenance for all, now, here and now...let all children be loved, protected, cherished, treasured, fed well and educated to their full potential. Let them be treated with love, compassion, gentleness, empathy, dignity, encouragement and respect. They are the greatest gifts of the First Mother. Let none know the slightest hunger, deprivation or abuse.

Honour, respect and dignity to all women! We are they who stop wars, mediate conflicts, see all sides of a problem and all possible solutions. We are to be honoured, respected, encouraged, empowered, and listened to. Let none think of harming us, silencing us, or excluding us from any form of power or potential! Self-mastery, self-authority and self-determination to all who are female, be we mothers or not!

Honour, respect, deference and dignity to all elders! They are those who know the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and who are treasure houses of both. Let grandmothers have veto power over any decision of any government or church, including orders of the Pope and the U.S. President! Let no person of age be neglected, locked away, abandoned or forgotten, let all be provided for, enabled to maximum independence, and given the best of all provisions, material and otherwise!

Let love, compassion, unity and harmony prevail everywhere, among every nation and culture. Let the First Mother be remembered everywhere, and our constant interdependence and interconnection with Her! Respect, honour, love and devotion be hers, that we may take no more than we need from Her, and be, once more, good neighbours to all our cousins of every species! There are no natives or foreigners among the animals and plants; all need each other to keep the interconnected system in balance.

Let enjoyment, love, sex, prosperity and safety be the lot of all people! Let every form of true love be honoured by all! Let none fear the relationship of body and spirit, sexuality and spirituality! Let all see the health of the body and the health of the mind and spirit depend on each other! Let life be joyous and fun, and death and transition never be feared! Let us all be married and bonded in our minds, hearts and souls, to each other and to the Mother of all life!

The massive witches' circle flew lower over the planet, resting over specific continents and regions, where special blessings flowed down to the peoples of Iraq, Indonesia, the American Gulf Coast, Sudan, Israel/Palestine, and many other places. At last, a farewell drone reverberated through the circle, and individual contingents began to break away from the whole, floating and spiralling, each line of women back to their homelands.

Jovana awoke with a gasp where she had been laid after she had collapsed in trance during the dance, as had many other witches who were dancing around the Fire Loft. All who had left their bodies to circle the First Mother and shower blessings on the world had been laid in a semicircle on sheepskins around the warmth of the bonfire (though far enough away not to be injured by cinders or sparks), and covered with piles of furs and blankets. As they began to regain consciousness, attendants lifted them to sitting positions and fed them hot spiced wine and cider, and bites of food, to help reground them in their bodies.

"So it is each Christmas Eve among our kind", the lead spellsinger of Skopje Magical College told those assembled around the entranced women as they revived. "Those with the shamanic gifts have circled the Earth with women from around the world tonight, infusing their blessings and prayers with the energy of millions of us wishing the world well from the very depths of our souls. And now, let us go inside again! More food, drink, toasts and music await all and sundry!"

And in they all trudged, once each of the shamanic journeyers had been revived and helped to her feet. Jovana walked in, arm in arm with Lule, a Macedonian and a Saami witch holding each other and grinning in greater joy than either had ever felt before.

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